New Ulm weekly review., 1887-02-23
CANVAS BACK AND TERRA
PIN.

u
PIN.
De ncacies that Flourish Nowhere 50 Well Is
In Baltimore.
Baltimore Cor. Omaha Herald
It was the genial autocrat, DR.. Oil
yer Wendell Holmes, who called Balti-
more the gastronomic capital of the
universe. It was he who suggested
that the lady be taken from the Bat
tie monument and q diamond back
terrapin put in her place, and that q
canvas back duck be stationed on the
Washington column. The other day
Editor Charles A. Dana, who is as
great an epicure as he is a journalist,
came over here from New York with
party of friends.
"What has brought you here?" was
asked him.
"a canvas back duck We came
to carve the wings and the breast of a
canvas back.lWe adore your beauti-
ful ladies, bowto your artists. admire
your history, your public men, rev.
erence your editors, but your canvas
back duck is beyond praise and COM
parlson. Next to your canvas bac.s
comes your Madeira. I have tasted it
before, and it is as wellwith the duck. !"
The fame of the canvas back is cos
mopolitan, but nowhere can it be found
cooked as we'll as in Baltimore. This
city, however, is more the market of
the canvas back than anywhere else.
The great feeding ground OF the duck
is on the flats in and around the mouth
of the ousquehanna river, and the cen
tral town ofthe duck shooters is Havre
de Grace a lively little place, which the
.]esuits settled and which Lafayette
named. The ducks come from Hud-
sons's bay and the far northern lakes.
They follow the edge of winter along
the Atlantic coast, leaving a few strag-
glers in the Hudson and Delaware riv-
ers, and arriving in great focks at the
head of the Chesapeake. What es-
peciaily attracts them is the luxurious
growth OF valisneris, a juicy water,
cress which grows in submerged fields,
in all the muddy fats, shallow bays,
and estuaries in the neighborhood of
the Susquehanna. This the ducks tear
up, and feedsravenously upon the ten
der roots. Nowhere else does theg grass
grow so plentifully. On other food the
ducks have a wild, fishy taste; on this
they have that succulence which defes
competition or description. They ar
rive on the grounds poor, but in
short time they become fat. There
are several dozen kinds of ducks found
In the bay, but the canvas back is
easily king OF them all. It's full grown
weight is three pounds. It is solidly
put together and q graceful flyer. The
greatest flights take place in the morn
ing before sunrise, and that is the time
the gunner does his most effective
work. Duck shooting is regulated by
stringent laws, to enforce which there
are special police maintained by the
state. Over 81 900 are paid annual
ly by gunners for licenses, and there
are several hundred men regularly en-
gagged in the business of shooting.
President Cleveland gets his ducks di-
rect from Havre de Grace, and ship
ments are made every week to Eu-
rope, where there is growing fondness
for this princely bird. Amateur duck
shooting is expensive. It costs all the
way from $40 to $50 per canvas back
for an amateur to enjoy himselfin this
way, and then he does not always get
the ducks. This year the ducks have
been very scarce, and prices have
ranged from 81 to $40 a pair. Dur
ing Christmas week the latter price
could not bring the supply up to the
demand.
The diamond back terrapin is not a
handsome creature, but what it lacks
in beauty it makes up in worth. It is
packed full of gastrononic goodness.
Ierrapin this year are as plentiful as
the canvas hack ducks are scarce.
They feed on the same grass as the
canvas backs, and that accounts for
the unapproachable excellence of their
flesh. A million and half dollars
worth of them are taken out of the
Chesapeake every year, and they are
sent all over this country and to
Europe. Maryland terrapin" is
dish that figures on the menu card of
every great dinner or banquet. And
yet the terrapin' s popularity is very
recent. Old records show that the
slaves of the State used to rebel be-
cause they were given terrapln instead
OF pork. Forty years ago John M.
Clayton of Delaware, who was Secre-
tary of State in President Tyler's
Cabinet, bought them in guam
titles, paying 81 for an ox-cart
load, which he would have dump
ed into his cellar like a. ton Of
coal. and which he used as the exigeu-
cies OF the table required. A half CEN
rury ago the best terrapin sold in the
Annapolis market for twelve and
half cents each. Thirty years ago
they sold in Baltimore at $8 dozen.
Now they are worth $50 to $75 adoz-
en-, and they go all over the world.
President Cleveland gets terrapin from
Baltimore. So does Mr.. McLane,
United States Minister to France. So
do the rich English entertainers.
The season proper extends trom
about the middle Of November to the